Previews Providing Viewable Regions for Protected Electronic Documents

1. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that perform a method to generate previews for protected electronic documents, the method comprising: receiving a query having query terms from a client device; locating, in a database, stored electronic documents and protected electronic documents that match the query terms; determining whether the located documents are protected; generating a viewable version of electronic documents that is unrestricted, when the documents are not protected; and generating a viewable version of protected electronic documents based on rules provided by owners of the protected electronic documents, wherein the viewable version includes previews that provide a partial view of regions of the protected electronic documents that include the query terms and obfuscated views of regions of the protected electronic documents that do not include the query terms, when the documents are protected.

2. The media of claim 1 , wherein the protected electronic documents contain content that is under copyright protection.

3. The media of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the viewable version of the electronic documents or the protected electronic documents to the client device.

4. The media of claim 1 , wherein the previews include text, image, or sound that provide context within the protected electronic documents, for the query terms.

5. The media of claim 1 , wherein a size of the preview is based on at least two of the following: a quality assigned to query terms, a quality assigned to the text that surrounds the query terms, and the rules provided by the owner.

6. The media of claim 1 , wherein the rules provided by the owner control interaction with the protected electronic documents.

7. The media of claim 6 , wherein the rules specify a maximum number of previews allowed for each page of each protected electronic document.

8. The media of claim 6 , wherein the rules allow the preview within each page of each protected electronic document to move.

9. The media of claim 7 , wherein the rules prevent the previews within each page of each protected electronic document from moving.

10. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that perform a method to track previews selected for protected electronic documents, the method comprising: receiving rules from owners of protected electronic documents; receiving a query having query terms from a client device; generating a search session for the client device; searching the protected electronic documents to locate the query terms; transmitting a preview of each protected electronic document, wherein the preview is a viewable portion of a region of the protected electronic document that includes the query terms; receiving a request to preview additional portions of the protected electronic document; and providing the additional portions of the protected electronic document based on the rules.

11. The media of claim 10 , wherein the rules reduce a total number of previews that a client device can request during a search session that corresponds to the protected electronic document.

12. The media of claim 11 , wherein the rules specify a maximum number of additional previews that can be requested for the protected electronic document.

13. The media of claim 10 , wherein generating the search session for the client device further comprises creating a cookie to identify the client device during subsequent search sessions.

14. The media of claim 13 , wherein a count that represents a number of requests, received from the client device, for previews of additional portions of the protected electronic document is generated during the search session.

15. The media of claim 14 , wherein the cookie stores an identifier for the protected electronic document and the count that represents the number of requests for additional previews associated with the protected electronic document.

16. The media of claim 10 , providing the additional portions of the protected electronic document based on the rules further comprises transmitting a preview that includes the additional portion of the protected electronic document without transmitting the entire protected electronic document.

17. A computer system to present previews for protected electronic documents, the computer system comprising: client devices configured to generate queries having query terms; databases configured to store protected electronic documents and rules associated with the protected electronic documents; and servers configured to provide the protected electronic documents that match the query terms, wherein the servers generate web pages that comprise previews that provide viewable portions of regions of the electronic document that contain the query terms and obfuscated views that provide blurred regions of the remainder of the protected electronic document that do not contain the query terms.

18. The computer system of claim 17 , wherein the webpage includes an indicator that provides the client devices with a total number of previews allowed for each protected electronic document.

19. The computer system of claim 17 , wherein the webpage includes an indicator that provides the client with a total number of previews remaining for each protected electronic document.

20. The computer system of claim 17 , wherein the webpage includes an indicator that provides the client with a number of previews used by the client for each protected electronic document.